1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to information exchange using networked systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for verifying the age of a controlled substance purchaser.
2. Related Art
While most goods can be freely sold to any purchaser having the required funds available to pay the purchase price, some products are identified as “controlled substances” or “age-restricted products” that cannot be freely sold. Some such controlled substances are restricted as to the age of the purchaser. For instance, alcoholic beverages can only be purchased in many states if the purchaser is at least twenty-one years old. In many States, cigarettes and other goods have related age sufficiency requirements for a purchase transaction to lawfully occur.
When individuals who do not meet the required age for making the purchase still desire to purchase such controlled substances, various different illicit techniques have been developed to unlawfully dupe the cashier at a retail store into believing that the purchaser has the requisite age to complete the purchase. One common method for deceiving the cashier is to utilize a false identification (ID) or a valid ID of a person other than the purchaser. The purchaser presents the incorrect ID when prompted by the cashier. Only if the cashier can accurately recognize that the photo on the ID is not the person attempting to purchase the controlled substance, can the cashier prevent the transaction. Often such ID photos are sufficiently small and the variability in human appearance is sufficiently great that a cashier will not notice this discrepancy. Furthermore, as the cashier is generally desirous of avoiding confrontation with purchasers and maximizing the number and amount of transactions concluded, the cashier is not incentivized to prevent the transaction from occurring.
In other cases, an individual will take an accurate and proper identification card and alter the date of birth section (and/or the photo) to indicate an earlier date of birth than actually exists. In such a case, the photo would appear accurate to the cashier, but the small numbers depicting the date of birth would have been altered. Unless the cashier accurately notes that the date of birth numbers are too recent to substantiate the required age, the transaction will be improperly completed.
Other forms of false identification cards can also be generated which can successfully convince the cashier that the purchaser is older than the required age, when the purchaser is in fact not older than the required age. In each case, the purchaser ends up gaining access to the controlled substance in violation of law. Statistics tell a grim tale of the effects of alcohol on underage drivers. The mix of driver inexperience with degraded perception induced by the alcohol, contribute to automobile accidents being one of the significant causes of death or serious injury for young people, and particularly those under the legal drinking age. Related problems for society accompany distribution of controlled substances improperly to those who have not yet attained the required age.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2003/0177102 describes a system and method of biometric-based age verification for authorizing presenter access of age-restricted good or services between an age presenter and an age verifier. System Presenters register at least one biometric identifier, at least one identification number, personal age-verifying data, and personal identity-verifying data. A presenter presents a biometric sample obtained from the presenter's person and the presenter's system ID number to conduct age verifications for purchase of or access to age-restricted goods or services. This data is used to authenticate the presenter's age and authorize access to purchase or obtain age-restricted goods or services by matching the presented transaction biometric with at least one registered biometric template and without the use of a man-made identity token.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2007/0260491 describes a system for delivery and monitoring the administration of controlled substances which includes one or more databases including a national database of controlled substance users, a database including physician/pharmacy information, a controlled substance delivery device and a docking station for use together with a network and software for communication between the various components of the system.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2006/0001524 describes a system for checking the authenticity of a form of identification; a local reader for reading a form of authentication; a transmitter associated with the local reader for transmitting the information to a central location; a system at the central location for verifying the information with an authority which has issued the identification and for transmitting back to the local reader an indication that the form of identification is valid.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2004/0238629 describes a system and method of conducting sales transactions. More particularly, the system includes a first station at which a customer may obtain a portable scanning device. This scanning device may be readily transported about a store and may be utilized to both scan and purchase the items selected by the customer. In addition, the invention generally includes a processor assembly that is wirelessly communicable with the portable scanning device. This feature may be characterized as enabling the customer to make a purchase from virtually any location in the store. After the desired items are purchased, an exit audit may be conducted in which an electronic scale assembly that is communicatively interconnected with the processor assembly is utilized to audit the purchase.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2006/0273155 describes a system and method providing for an independent provider of electronic “stored value” credit to enable a consumer of products and services to apply cash or cash equivalents to fund an electronic account, i.e., a stored value account (SVA), managed by an independent stored value provider (ISVP) in a network of ISVPs. The consumer is typically a customer of the ISVP. The applied funds may be used by the customer to purchase products and services from any of several merchants that have established a transactional business association with the ISVP. The merchants may also be any type of on-line e-commerce business and/or a traditional in-store business. Moreover, a customer may transfer funds from one SVA to another SVA. Customers may add funds to a SVA, in person, at a Retail Financial Service Provider (RFSP) who verifies the identity of the consumer.
Accordingly, a need exists for a more robust system to ensure that only purchasers who have attained the required legal age can properly purchase controlled substances. Such a system should not penalize the cashier or retail store operator, but rather be a system that is easy for the store to implement. Also, such a system should be minimally intrusive upon the privacy concerns of individuals in our society. Thus, a system and method for verifying the age of a controlled substance purchaser are needed.